IBF Plants
The field work of IBF plants is done in the vegetation periods of 2009 and 2010 and is starting again with the prolongation of the project in 2012.
There are several work packages:
The first work package running until recently is devoted on monitoring of ruderal plants on cemeteries in and around Regensburg (Bavaria). These rarely investigated sites bear an interesting and species rich flora. Furthermore, there are many advantages to test "DiversityMobile" on these sites: permanent availability of GPS-data (absence of a closed canopy cover), and the plant species are easy to find without the need to cover a larger distance. This inventory will result in approximately 20,000 records to be uploaded to GBIF at the end of 2012.
The second work package (vegetation period 2010, ? 2012) comprises a re-monitoring study based on the research data of Otto Mergenthaler (1898-2001). This well-known botanist collected high-quality data on vascular plants in Eastern Bavaria mostly between 1970 and 1985. The detailed observations are well documented in a database and also cartographically. Based on digitized maps with marked field areas, investigation areas are selected and monitored to repeat the historical survey. Altogether, twelve field areas/ plots representing different habitats in different altitudinal belts are monitored two times per vegetation period.
Another work package started in 2012. The new version of DiversityMobile under Windows Phone is tested, especially for managing extended DTN taxon names lists, recording estimated values for species cover-abundance in relation to habitat-type classifications and separately measured environmental variables (? by data loggers). The usage of TK25 topographic maps of Bavaria embedded in the Diversity Mobile interface is also subject of evaluation. Eventually, part of this work package is done by using DWB components on Tablet PC.
Nowadays, the long-term monitoring of vascular plants in Germany is mainly done by volunteers and citizen scientists in connection with scientific societies like the Bayerische Botanische Gesellschaft e. V. and the Regensburger Botanische Gesellschaft von 1790 e. V.. DiversityMobile with the integrative Diversity Workbench workflow from mobile data gathering, data management in a central data repository up to the data publication via GBIF might be a option for this user community to be part of a sustainable science platform. The scenario is evaluated as a work package of its own in 2012 and will be promoted, e. g. by the Botanischer Informationsknoten Bayern BIB under IBF Monitoring of Vasular Plants.
Scientists in this work package: W. Ahlmer, J. Klotz, Prof. Dr. P. Poschlod
Ecology/Biology, University of Regensburg
http://www.diversitymobile.net/wiki/images/a/a3/Merg-Bilder-1.jpg
